Miklós Szabó
Debrecen, October 27, 1942 – Debrecen, February 13, 2012
primary school teacher, deputy headmaster, artist photographer
Arriving as third child to the family, he received loving care and tenderness from his parents as he became their only child after the early death of his siblings. His father, Zoltán Szabó was a prestigious merchant in Hajdúböszörmény, following the nationalization he continued as a cashier at the municipal legal office. His mother managed the household whole-heartedly. He was raised in a patriotic atmosphere, as his parents took an active role in the cultural life of the town.
He attended primary and secondary school in Hajdúböszörmény. His affection and passion for photography developed during the secondary school years and it became his life-long hobby. After the school leaving exam, he worked for a year and in 1962, he started to study biology, geography and agriculture at the Teacher Training College in Eger. He graduated in 1966. It was beyond question that he stayed in the town, so from August 1, 1966 he worked at the Secondary School of Agricultural Mechanics and continued his career at Primary School no. 3 of Hajdúböszörmény (present-day Bethlen Gábor Primary School) where he was appointed as teacher on October 27 – on his birthday. He had been working at the school for 40 years until his retirement in March 2006. He was fond of his pupils and the school, he was one of the fortunate ones as his job was his hobby. His teaching method put children to the focus, he encouraged independent learning and engaged his students with various on-hand activities. His demonstration classes of Geography focused on the popularization of audio-visual tools, which were at still in an incipient stage in education at that time. As a form teacher, he prepared children for real life and independence. His benevolence made him popular among his pupils who simply called him ’Micu bácsi’. He was far from being too strict, he was rather interested in what children managed to learn.
An important milestone in his private life was his marriage with his colleague Júlia Nagy at Christmas time in 1969, who became his trustworthy companion throughout the 26 years they spent together. They had two children whom they raised with loving care. Miklós, born in 1971 became a sport photographer. His success at several national photography awards made his father pleased and proud of him. His daughter Judit, born in 1977, works as international sales manager.
The cornerstone of Miklós Szabó’s life was his family. He loved his wife who provided him a solid background, supporting him to pursue his diverse activities. He was fond of his children and grandchildren. He was a person radiating constant optimism. The only disruption was the death of his wife in 1995. Losing his faithful companion broke him down but after a while he set new goals and took shelter in his job.
At the school, he took charge of various tasks. He was responsible for planning the timetable for decades. He also became the expert of fire-protection and the Highway Code. For almost 40 years he was the teacher who organized the annual summer camps at the school, which soon became very popular among children, so they had the chance to visit different parts of the country. National Defence Day and the Day of Trees and Birds were held yearly and the arrangements was coordinated by Miklós Szabó.
As a form teacher he focused on creating an organic community, he even managed to involve parents in the school life. There were family days with a Highway Code competition. He endeavoured to make school the second home for children and even for teachers, where they could have a good time together. He managed to form a strong community, colleagues and their families could participate in school events of cheerful atmosphere. Exciting games and competitions were followed by dinners, chats, music and dance. Besides, he organized trips to explore the wonderful countryside, home and abroad as well. We remember him as a man of good humour. Who could forget the jovial talks following the lessons at the end of the day, or the jests he invented?
He was fond of sports, he and his wife did much effort to have a sport class at Bethlen Gábor Primary School. He organized Sporting Association ’Tempo DSE’ at the school and was the chairman for years. He also arranged chess competitions and took an active part in the sport life of the whole town. Chair of the ’Indoor Swimming Pool Foundation’ advisory board, he was successful in persuading town-dwellers to support this worthy cause. He was the father of ’Love the Town’ running competition which has been held annually on September 13, Town Day of Hajdúböszörmény, organized by the PE teachers of Bethlen Gábor Primary School.
Miklós Szabó was provincialist to the backbone with Hajdúböszörmény as the centre of his universe. He could not imagine living elsewhere and dedicated his life to serve his town. His words with the most original Hajdú accent still ring in our ear.
In Böszörmény, he is still referred to as the photographer of the town. He started it as a hobby in 1960 and became the most recognised photographer in town from 1966 to 2006.
”Sharp eyes and heart make a good photographer” – he used to say. You could always find him at the bigger events in town with his camera in his hands, passionately recording the history of the town. Tens of thousands of photos were taken throughout the four decades, we can find photos on scientists, politicians, artists coming to our town. During the past decades he became the photographer of the Town’s weekly newspaper, and he prepared photos used for the Photo News. His photos can be found in printed albums and various other publications about the town. He attended the annual Art Workshop of Hajdúság, captured Hungarian and foreign artists in the process of creation. He made acquaintances there and became close friends with painter, Zoltán Csizmadia.
He showed inclination to the remnants of the past in Hajdúböszörmény. He turned towards the old peasant world with delicate affection. He wandered the surrounding farm fields talked to the habitants, recorded the circumstances, the tools they used. Besides rural life, another fascination of his, were special door handles around the town. After retirement, he explored the old cemeteries and took photos of the graves of famous residents of Böszörmény. Numerous photo exhibitions were organized from the vast amount of artistic material he accumulated. He could show his creations in Hajdúböszörmény, but there were exhibitions in Debrecenben, Újrónafő, Tiszaújváros and even in Budapest. Recognition did not wait long: he received excellence awards for photo portrait in Túrkeve, and won first prize at an award of Journal, Hajdú-Bihari Napló.
He always received appreciation from his managers at the institutes he worked at. In 1991, he was managing headmaster of Bethlen Gábor Primary School for 3 months then appointed deputy headmaster on January 1, 1992 and assisted headmaster Istvánné Lengyel’s work until his retirement.
In 2006 he had to face serious health problems, consecutive operations ended up in disability. However, he proved to be strong enough to learn to walk again and find new goals despite the difficulties. His children gave him support, despite living further away, kept contact with him on a daily basis and visited him if he was in need. He always prepared some delicious traditional dish to welcome them. He had become grandfather of two little ones who were fond of ”papa”. He loved being together with them. He remained sociable and kept in touch with old acquaintances and friends. He did not stop organizing excursions that were always popular as everyone knew his programs promised a lot of interesting sights.
Those days, he was also busy with sorting the amazing volume of photos from 40 years. He left the tens of thousands of items arranged in neat albums. It was his legacy.
Death came abruptly, it stunned all of us, who felt affection and respect towards him. February 13, 2012 brought the end for an exceptional and diverse career.
Cited from Imre Gargya’s memoir, his student and later colleague:
”He was a man of virtue, radiating important values towards students, friends, acquaintances and colleagues. He perceived and showed the treasures invisible for others. Miklós Szabó’s life and career can be held as an example for all of us. Bars are high. We could not celebrate his 70th birthday with him but we can recall his stature and knavish smile.”
Awards:
Sources:
Margit Zohány, former colleague
In: Teacher’s Gallery 2012. 281. p.
